Posts

An Inquisition Force?

While otherwise busy today (shuffling models to calculate the required box size for shipping cartons), i noticed my WIP shelf for Warhammer 40,000. Amongst the myriad Imperial Guard units, and scatter of Ministorum and Ork units, sit a bundle of 10 Inquisitors, some Daemonhosts and Acolytes. I know it's been nearly 2 months since their updated, stand-in army list, but it got me thinking about whether it would be possible to build a Tournament legal force using only Inquisition units. For those unaware of what I mean, the guidelines for a tournament force limit the number of detachments a player can include and the number of times a datasheet can be selected (other than Troops and Dedicated Transport units). The current limit on both is one, plus one for every 1,000 points or part thereof.  The Inquisition really isn't designed for competitive mono-dex lists, having only 5 units, apart from Special Characters: 2 HQ and 3 Elites. There are no Troops, Fast Attack, Heavy Support, F...
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The 50 Unit Challenge

I've undertaken this challenge at least 3 times (2007, 2014, 2015), and, when I haven't, in the interim, I've tried to achieve it without the pressure. I'm considering doing it again this year, since I've a huge backlog of unpainted models and a lot of unassembled ones. I've had such for years, and the 50-Unit Challenge is a good way to motivate me to clear some.  I usually overshoot: in 2014, when i wasn't counting models for my gangs in a campaign I was running, i did 52, plus some terrain; in 2015, i did 54, albeit including units for my gangs, since the campaign had grown to be using whole squads and even platoons.  I have been known to get a bit obsessed if i don't have a unit painted each week, but it's fun in its way and a great way to motivate me to clear some backlog. Next up for me are 3 Halfling Hot-pots, then, once i finish building them, I've a bundle of Squats, and various other things that have dust layers on their undercoat.  So, ...
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On lifespan and evolution

I've been gaming for rather a long time. I know that i bought every issue of White Dwarf from December 1991 until June 1998, and my collection spans about 5 years further back in bits and pieces, with back issues and second hand copies to fill some of the gaps. So, more than 28 years, certainly.  There's a long standing joke that a dedicated miniature gamer will drop dead once they have finished painting every model in their collection. This joke comes from the backlog we all develop. We buy miniatures or are given miniatures that we want for forces we're building or components we want, and then life gets in the way or we find a new model or line or game that's just so much better/newer/fresher, and we have a pile of stuff that hasn't been painted and is now being ignored. I have years and years and years of that, without interruption. I also have inherited a few armies, when people have been clearing out their old gaming stuff, most pressing, at present, for me is ...
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Crossing the Rubicon

There's been a lot of fuss made over the past couple of years about 40k's new Primaris marines, about existing characters being upgraded and the doom of the traditional space marines.  There's some validity to it all, but, something most people forget, or simply don't know, is that a similar change happened almost 30 years ago.  Back in first edition, in Rogue Trader, marines started with profiles barely advanced from the humble Guardsman, with power armour that gave a 4+ save. A 4+ save was a big thing back then, and the other means of getting it - Carapace armour or layers, such as mesh and flak - came with movement penalties and other downsides. Back then, the S4 of the bolter made it an enviable weapon. Marines were a  powerful force. The miniatures, dating from before or around the time that marines became superhuman giants, were small by modern standards, about shoulder height to a modern traditional marine, mostly single-piece (except  for backpack) and wearin...
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Organising the squats' return

No, I'm not going to lay out a plan to get GW to revive the squats. I have a strategy in mind for the return of other things, now that the Legends have dropped, but that's an entirely different story. What I'm talking about here is my plan for the building blocks that will make up my squats.  Having started to build the army using the Dispossessed Thunderers and Warriors for the grunts, I'd planned to continue to do so, but the models got discontinued while I was 4 boxes short of what I planned. Rather than abandon the project (since I've 65 models still to build) i started looking at how to integrate the surviving options into the force. There are 3 sets that could be used easily, the Dispossessed Ironbreakers, Dispossessed Hammerers and the Kharadron Overlords' Arkanaut Company.  The old dwarfs had mail tabards, which I've painted as camouflage netting. I've used a few Ironbreakers, left over from an ancient RPG campaign to provide the Hearthguard for ...
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Imperial Guard Assault Squads

The idea of the 40k Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum having dedicated assault troops seems ridiculous nowadays. Since 1996, the basic structure for the Guard has been well established as the 10-man rifle sections, 5-man command sections (now 4-man with the officers split off), and 6-man support units. This makes active sense, and has strong real-world parallels: in modern military, few units are armed primarily for hand-to-hand combat, and such has been the case for nearly 300 years.  Despite this, close combat has always been a significant part of 40k. Back in first edition, the game launched with the assumption that ranged combat would be the norm, as can be seen in the early army lists, but, over time, some time around the start of the 1990s, that shifted. Close combat had moved out of the shadows, and the Craftworld Eldar had the cutting edge of this, with Guardian Storm squads (with laspistols and powerswords), and Howling Banshee and Striking Scorpion Aspect warriors.  On ...
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Attention deficit

I have ADHD. It's not the funny side that you see in sitcoms. It's the type where I struggle to complete anything, and have more ideas than I know what to do with.  The company i design for is largely a result of the condition: i need to be creative, and that does the job; marketable output is a side effect. The last 2 years have been a nightmare of mortgage applications, bereavement, illness, injury, and so on, with a couple of weddings and pregnancies thrown in for good measure. My brain has reacted to that by diving headlong into full blown ADHD. I hadn't realised how bad it was until the latest batch of illness forced me to take sick leave. I have found 20-odd hobby projects that I've started, forgotten I'd started and so buried under the next idea that crossed my mind.  I'm slowly finding them and moving them on. I have, at present: * a small army half painted; * 5 more small forces primed and in boxes (one of which was scattered across my desk for a few mo...
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